Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice

Halloween around our house has become something very magical… Quidditch, Diagon Alley, Platform 9 3/4, floating candles, wizards and absolutely NO MUGGLES allowed.

For anyone who’s read the Harry Potter books, you know exactly what we’re talking about. For the past four years, we’ve spent the entire month of October transforming our home and yard into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For two very magical nights, we invite friends and neighbors to join us for quidditch matches, Honeydukes sweets, wizarding wars and of course, our homemade brews of butterbeer and pumpkin juice.

The costumes are epic and mandatory. People have been known to start working on them in July, and there are always prizes for the best-dressed witches and wizards! (Here we are as Scabbers the rat and Rowena Ravenclaw’s ghost).

For this Halloween post, we thought it would be fun to give you a little tour of our “homemade” Hogwarts. If you get bored of looking at photos, (you’re a party pooper), just scroll to the bottom for our Pumpkin Juice recipe. Yum.

Of course, you have to enter through Platform 9 3/4…

The thestral will be guarding the front door to Hogwarts, and Dolores Umbridge (a.k.a. Grandma Beautiful) will greet you once inside.

Pick your wand at Ollivanders, grab some favors from Wizard Wheezes and head into the Great Hall for treats…

Be careful what you find in Knockturn Alley…

Sirius Black will be waiting for you in the Gryffindor Common Room, and if you’re brave enough to enter the Chamber of Secrets, you may find Moaning Myrtle howling her song while you try to use the loo.

Toward the end of the evening, the dark mark appears, and the wizarding duels begin.

And if you love geeking out on Harry Potter like we do, you may want to check out this video recap Sarah’s husband put together from our fun night…

Whatever YOUR party plan is for the holiday, Harry Potter Pumpkin Juice will please absolutely everybody! Pumpkin, apple and mango are surprisingly a pretty awesome combo, hot or cold, and, with just five minutes of prep, you can be ready to serve every one of your thirsty goblins and ghosts.

And so, to quote Albus Dumbledore, ‘”Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!” HaPpY HaLLOwEeN!!! We hope you have a safe, fun and very magical night.

Valentina, we are a bit crazy this time of year! But it’s a fun project, and we actually do it as a fundraiser for needy families. That helps us justify the craziness:) Hope you try the pumpkin juice! It’s a fun twist on cider or wassail.